While I’m busy catching up on my writing and life in general (while still under self-imposed quarantine after my return last week from Mexico), I’m thrilled to share this lovely post that Miriam Hurdle put up on a double-header book review post for both my book, Conflicted Hearts and Sally Cronin’s, Life’s Rich Tapestry. Thank you Miriam for this lovely review and for featuring Sally and myself together once again!

I have followed Sally Cronin’s blog for some time and always enjoy reading her writing of short stories, articles on health and well-being and various subjects.

I read this book, Life’s Rich Tapestry: Woven in Words, with great expectation. By the subtitle, I knew it includes poetry, fiction and short stories. The book includes the four seasons, all things human, fairy tales, the nature, the pets and short stories.

In the Seasons of the Year – The scenes of the seasons passed in front of my eyes. I could see the colors of the seasons and smell the fragrance, feel the breeze of warm and cold air, hearing the joyful sounds in the family gatherings.

In All Things Human, rich words flowed from Cronin’s true experience or imagination, ranged from youth to old age, joy and sadness, human interactions and self-reflections.

From Cronin’s blog, I know that the author is a pet lover. There are stories covering the puppy’s unconditional love of the owner, the owner’s lessons learned from the pets, and stories about playful dogs and cats.

Among the short stories, I felt in love with the story You Are Never Too Old to Be Loved, which is about a beautiful old dog, Jack, whose owner, Mrs. Jones, died. The day before Christmas, a man greeted him. This man recognized Jack from his teen years and took him home and gave him a love and care.

The 99-word micro fiction and the Speculative fiction are enchanting. I especially love The ‘1812 Overture’ which was the music the author enjoyed and embedded this piece of music into the fictional story.

I write poetry, fiction and short stories and feel at home reading Cronin’s book and understand the rhymes and lines and syllable count of her poetry. The enthusiastic nature of the author brings positive resolutions to her stories. This book includes a wide variety of genres that all readers will find something interesting to read. I highly recommend this book to any reader.

The Second Review is Conflicted Hearts: A Daughter’s Quest for Solace from Emotional Guilt by D.G. Kaye

My Review

In her book Conflicted Hearts, Kaye recounted her vivid memories of her painful experience growing up with a narcissist mother whose interest was partying, smoking, gambling and getting male’s attention to herself. Her mother threw out her father frequently and had male companions in the house with the children’s presence. Kaye’s father returned home long enough to make babies but had no guarantee to stay. She felt sad for her father. She couldn’t concentrate at school. Instead, she expected the disappearance of her father or anger from her mother. She did not receive the nurturing needed for a happy childhood. Instead of being a child, she felt responsible and be the parent to her father. Later, she found out that the paternal grandparents didn’t like her because her mother was pregnant with her and caused her parents’ marriage. She felt it was her fault, and that she was the reason for her father to marry her mother. She considered herself as the black sheep, the accident. If her father married someone else, he would have been happier. Her mother was never home and had babysitter watching the four children until Kaye was twelve and became a babysitter.

Aunty Sherry was the only adult to show her guidance, concern and attention. Sherry got married in her forties and didn’t have children.

Kaye moved to an apartment at age eighteen. She went to university part-time studying classical music and singing, but never made it. She then supported herself by working in the Casinos dealing cards. During those years, Kaye had relationships with married men. Eventually she married a loving, thoughtful husband. Eventually she got married to a love and caring husband.

As a mother and a grandmother, I couldn’t imagine such a person as Kaye’s self-centered mother. I felt horrified when Kaye’s baby brother wandered off a mile away while the mother was asleep late in the morning recovering from the late-night party. Children are the ones who suffer the most in a dysfunctional home. Kaye’s parents had problems with their marriage, yet four babies were brought into the world. I feel that Kaye’s mother had sex for pleasure and didn’t understand the consequence. Kaye should never feel responsible for causing the parents to get married. Regardless, Kaye became a sensitive person and led a happy life.

These are both lovely and well-deserved reviews by Miriam. The first one on Sally’s Life’s Rich Tapestry clearly shows Miriam’s love of the written word in any form. I can feel her love of Sally’s work in her own words. In the second one, Conflicted Hearts, I feel her compassion for children and for Debby’s childhood. Congratulations, Sally and Debby.

Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to D.G. Kaye and DGKayewriter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Please contact the author to inquire about use of photos, links or posts for permissions.

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